A Strange Combination.

Horowhenua Chronicle, 31 March 1910, Page 3

A Strange Combination.

Through one of the perverse freaks ■of life a bicycle rider will soon bo called upon to kill one of the best friends he -over possessed (says a writer in an Australian paper). Not that he desires to take the life of a former friend uT/iul companion, but he will be compelled, as a matter of duty, to do so. And thereupon hangs one of the most dramatic of tnlfs. It has just -come out that Otto Meyer, one of the most prominent sprinters in Europe, is the chief executioner for Germany, and this office carries with it a iat salary, for it is not a job that everyone wants. The I'aris papers are full of the matter, fliwl they predict that Meyer's life will not be safe now that it is known that he is one whom the Government has selected to serve the ends of justice. It appears that considerable, odium is lattnched to the position in Germany, as is also the case in France. At any rate the papers state that Otto Meyer is the official executioner, and that hewill be called upon, this month. to behead. Brnuer, a prominent German racing cyclist, for murder. Brauer shot a rich miller in Cologne about two years a go. Hewastrie-d, found: guilty, and sentenced to death but for various reasons the execution wns delayed. Now he is to be beheaded, and; Otto Meyer must personally operate. Years ago Brauer was one of Meyer's best friends, and he oftem. competed against him on the track. ."

TELEGRAMS,